Quebec publisher Boréal ends ties with author Thélyson Orélien, citing AI use in novel

Les Éditions du Boréal, a publisher based in Montréal, has announced that it is ending its professional relationship with the author Thélyson Orélien. In a statement dated October 21, the publisher said new information gathered over the past few days indicates that artificial intelligence (AI, computer software that can generate text) was used in writing his novel C'était ça ou mourir (It Was Either That or Die).

The book has been at the centre of a dispute since the autumn. Boréal said it received the manuscript on September 12, 2025. In September, Canadian and French publishers defended Orélien against accusations that he had used AI to write the prize-winning novel, and said they stood behind him, as Reuters reported. Boréal had also paused promotional activities for the book. In its own September statement, Boréal said artificial intelligence was not used by the publisher at any stage of its process.

Boréal said it then gathered all the working versions of the novel and hired an outside party to analyse various drafts. That analysis found traces of AI tags in the metadata of certain documents. Metadata is the hidden information stored inside a digital file, such as details about how and when it was created. Boréal said it did not know the extent of AI use in the writing process and will likely never have a definitive answer.

The novel was also withdrawn from the list of works under consideration for the Prix Goncourt, a French literary prize. That decision followed tests with the AI-detection tool Pangram, which indicated a 100% probability that the book contained computer-generated text, according to The Guardian. The novel had been scheduled for translation into more than 20 countries.

Orélien has given differing accounts. He denied using AI to write the novel, and in mid-October he abandoned efforts to compile evidence supporting that denial. He also admitted past plagiarism, Reuters reported. He has since told the French newspaper Libération that he used AI in the creative process for historical research.

The publisher's decision leaves the question of how much of the novel was produced with AI unresolved. Boréal's statement described the matter as one it may never be able to settle fully.